What a great country we live in! How wonderful it is to be free! We talk a lot about the blessing of freedom in this country, especially around this time of year, and sometimes about the idea that freedom isn't free- it is bought with a price. People before us paid the price so that we can be a free nation, for which I am grateful.
We can take our freedom and we can sell it or give it away. We can sell it to Visa in exchange for stuff. The borrow is slave to the lender. We don't think of that when we swipe that credit card- "I am selling my freedom for a new washing machine, a dinner out, a vacation, etc" but that is exactly what we are doing. Or we can save our money for a bit, then pay cash for whatever it is that we want. If we have that cash, we have the freedom to do what we want with it instead of being slaves to credit card companies, car payments, unaffordable mortgages, etc. If we have an emergency fund, even a small one, we can avoid going into debt for a new transmission, a new furnace, or other things that come up that are hard to anticipate, and thus avoid giving away our freedom. If we as Americans truly value our freedom, we will not sell it or give it away by entering into unnecessary debt (which almost all debt is).
Speaking of money, we have the freedom to spend our money as we choose. We have an almost unlimited variety of products available to us to purchase. We see it in neat packages sitting on store shelves, with little clue as to where it comes from and what the production of it is doing to the earth, animals, and other people. With the freedom that we have to spend as we see fit, we have the responsibility to inform ourselves of what we are buying. As they say, every dollar you spend is a vote for the kind of world we want. We as Americans have a lot of votes, since we have a lot of dollars compared to most of the world's population. Anyone who is reading this has a lot of votes, because if you have the internet, you have more money than most people. (Compare your income to the world here: http://www.globalrichlist.com/ Suffice it to say you are richer than you think!) Let's make our votes count. Let's know what we are voting for. Let's vote for the kind of world we really do want to see, not just buy what is convenient or appealing for whatever reason. That's like picking a politician by whether you like the way they look. We can go deeper than that. Let's make good use of our freedom to vote for products that benefit others and the planet.
We have these amazing bodies, hundreds of different parts working together in perfect harmony (or almost perfect harmony) to make us able to do so many things. And we have the freedom to do what we want with our bodies. In this country (and most other developed countries, now) we have the ability to give our bodies so many different kinds of fuel. We can have fresh vegetables any time of year. We have access to clean water, whole grains, and other healthy foods. We also have access to all kinds of junk food. We are free to choose. How well are we using that freedom?
We have the freedom of spending our time how we wish. Most of us require some of that time be spent making money to live on (moreso if we have sold our freedom to Visa ;) ) But what are we doing with the rest of it? Are we using it to bless others, or are we using it mostly to try to entertain ourselves? Some time for recreation is important, but we also need to be using our time for other good causes. Just as every dollar we spend is a vote, every minute we spend is also a vote. What do you really want out of life?
Freedom may be America's biggest blessing, but is also our hardest test. We have an imporant responsibility to use our freedom for the greater good of ourselves, our families, our communites, and the world.
1 comment:
You make some very good points! Thanks for sharing. :)
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